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A potentially important precedent-setting case for First Nations people in Canada has been delayed.

The scheduled May 15 hearing of a Morley brother and sister faced with illegal wildlife possession and trafficking has been held over until May 31.

When Terry Daniels and her brother Harlan Daniels appeared in Cochrane provincial court Tuesday, their lawyers asked for the extension since "new material" had been recently uncovered.

Approximately two dozen of their family and friends were in the courtroom to support them.

The charges were laid early last year after a raid on their homes at which time Fish and Wildlife officers say they seized illegal items ranging from powwow regalia to eagle feathers and head-dresses.

Harlan and Terry's sister, Cindy Daniels,

remains bitter about the way the investigation was carried out.

"An undercover officer followed my sister and befriended her.pretended to be a collector," she said on May 14. "She took him to her place and then to my mom and dad's place. She believed him."

Approximately two weeks later the raid took place, and family artefacts that had been handed down through numerous generations were confiscated.

Included were whistles made from eagle bones, items crafted from eagle feathers, and oddly, some photographs of eagle feathers.

"They even took a staff with an eagle head carved on it that belonged to my mother," said Cindy, adding some items were later returned to them by the officers, but the event has nonetheless left her family devastated.

But Cindy said her mother instantly knew something was wrong when the undercover officer came to her home.

"She said she didn't trust him," she said. "She knew she didn't have a good sense about him. He wanted her to bead for him, but she refused."

Still, the Daniels family and friends say the delay could help them in the long run by giving them more time to get the word of their plight out to other First Nations people.

"This case is a stepping stone for First Nations to have the right to carry sacred items," said Cindy, adding she's already contacted chiefs and councils from other nations, many of whom have agreed to attend the May 31 hearing in support of her siblings. "I'm trying to contact everyone from the Treaty 7 area," she said. "This is not just about my family but about everyone that has to deal with Fish and Wildlife."

If convicted, the Daniels could be fined a maximum of $100,000 and spend two years in jail.